Relatives and friends claim the chain
of events leading to the discovery of 47-year-old King’s body at the
bottom of his swimming pool on Sunday morning don’t add up.

They insist he was a strong swimmer who was turning his life around after a two-decade battle with alcohol.

‘My cousin is 6ft 5in tall. He could
swim. He could surf. He did all that stuff. He drowned? Okay, how? The
pool was only six feet deep,’ Anderson told a local TV network.

King’s fiancée Cynthia Kelley told
police she was woken up by the sound of King banging on the window of
their California home just after 5am on Sunday and found his lifeless
body at the bottom of the pool a few minutes later.

He had allegedly been drinking all day and smoking marijuana.

But celebrity website TMZ – which
first reported the news of King’s death – claimed yesterday that two
close friends of the drowning victim have told detectives they don’t
believe King’s girlfriend is telling the truth.

They allegedly told a detective that
her story had discrepancies when she described what happened in various
versions to friends.

Police said they haven’t discovered
any sign of foul play at King’s home in Rialto, California, about 60
miles east of Los Angeles.

An autopsy is being carried out and toxicology tests could provide more clues to what caused the tragedy.

King’s fiancée was a juror in his
£2.5million civil suit against the city of Los Angeles following the
savage attack by four white police officers in 1991.

Scroll down to hear from the police outside Rodney's home

Untimely death: Rodney King, pictured in the swimming pool at his California home, drowned in June

Mysterious: King's fiancee told a 911 dispatcher that she awoke to the sound of King falling into the pool, pictured, and came outside to find him at the bottom of it

The beating was famously caught on
camera and was the catalyst that helped spark an orgy of violence and
looting that left more than 50 people dead in the riots that exploded
after the officers were acquitted of all charges at a trial the
following year.

Neighbours reported hearing music,
talking and crying before a big splash in the early hours of the
morning. Police said they received an emergency call at 5.25 am and King
was pronounced dead about half an hour later.

Grief: The daughters of Rodney King, Lora (pictured left) and Candice (center), weep as they visit the home of their father where he was found dead on Sunday

Distress: Relatives of Rodney King react to his death outside his home in Rialto, California which has been cordoned off by police

Investigation: Detectives were at the scene following the death of Rodney King who is believed to have drowned

Tribute: The Reverend Al Sharpton, center, walks with demonstrators during a silent march to end the 'stop-and-frisk program in New York. He said King always called for reconciliation

The court case had been moved to the
predominantly white suburb of Simi Valley, California and on April 29,
and no member of the jury was black.

Three of the officers was were acquitted while a mistrial was declared for the fourth.

The
verdict sent shock waves across the world and prompted catastrophic
riots which lasted three days, left 55 dead, more than 2,000 injured and
swaths of LA on fire.

As
the city was ripped apart by crowds who looted businesses, torched
buildings and attacked one another, King made a personal plea for peace.

‘People,
I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along?’
he asked on the third day of rioting, going off script from the
statement planned by his lawyers.

The riots caused more than one billion dollars of damage.

King
went on to successfully sue the LAPD, Koon and Powell , two of the
officers involved in his beating, were eventually found guilty of civil
rights violations in federal court and sent to prison. The other two
were acquitted again.

Despite the payout, King’s life has been deeply troubled.

Savage: King was beaten by LAPD officers after he failed to pull over in 1991, an incident that spawned the notorious LA riots after the officers were acquitted in the case

Brutally beaten: King was pictured three days after being attacked by members of the LAPD

In the two decades since the attack, he has been arrested 11 times for domestic violence, assault, drug use and DUI and fought a long battle with alcoholism.

He had spent a stint in rehab, worked as a record company executive and was on VH1’s Celebrity Rehab last year. He had latterly reinvented himself as a boxer.

‘For a long time, sure, I was letting
the pressure of being Rodney King get to me. It ain't easy,’ he told the
Los Angeles Times.

‘Even now, I walk into a place
wondering what people are thinking. Do they know who I am? What do they
think about what happened? Do they blame me for the all those people who
died?’

King was arrested in 2005 for making
threats to kill his daughter and his daughter's mother after the two
women got into an argument with his then-girlfriend.

LA in flames: The four white police officers were cleared of beating Rodney King, sparking the LA riots in 1992

Armed and dangerous: The Los Angeles riots were the deadliest in the city's history. Some 55 people died and thousands were injured in the violence and looting

Smouldering: The city of Los Angeles was left with $1 billion damage after the riots in 1992

Police also stopped him in 2003 for
allegedly punching a girlfriend. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving
earlier the same year after crashing his car into a house.

In November 2007, he was treated in
hospital after an incident in which he was shot and wounded in the face,
back and upper torso, in the Los Angeles suburb of San Bernardino.

In his recently-published memoir, The
Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption’, King said that
the course of his life had been changed forever by the night of his
assault.

He described how FBI agents had warned
him a riot was expected if the officers were acquitted, and urged him
to keep a low profile so as not to inflame passions.

Speaking ahead of the 20th anniversary
of the riots, King said racism still has to be challenged. He published
a memoir, "The Riot Within: My Journey From Rebellion to Redemption,"
to mark the anniversary

But in an interview earlier this year, he said that he was a happy man.

‘America's been good to me after I
paid the price and stayed alive through it all,’ he says. ‘This part of
my life is the easy part now.’

Attackers: From left to right, Sgt Stacey Koon, Theodore Briseno, Timothy Wind and Laurence Powell in their police booking photographs in 1991

The brutal, late-night attack that left the LAPD's reputation in tatters

Rodney Glen King was 25 years old when he became the symbol of race issues in America.

On March 2, 1991, King and two passengers were driving home after having spent the evening at a friend's house drinking and watching basketball.

At 12.30am, two police officers spotted King speeding in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. According to King, he refused to pull over as he was on parole for a previous robbery conviction and a DUI charge would have violated this.

He was pursued through residential areas by several police cars and a helicopter before being cornered.

After stopping his two passengers Bryant Allen and Freddie Helms were arrested without incident.

King was reportedly two times over the drink-drive limit at this point.

Victim: Rodney King, pictured in 1992, at a press conference where he called for an end to the violence during the LA riots

The first officers to arrive at the scene were Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno and Rolando Solano.

King stayed in the car and when he did emerge, acted strangely. One officer ordered him to the ground at gunpoint.

Sergeant Koon told the officer to step back while Briseno, Powell, Solano, and Wind attempted to arrested King who resisted. He was Tasered in the back and fell to his knees.

George Holliday, who heard the commotion in the street, started rolling a videotape from a distance. King is filmed on the ground, surrounded by the police officers. They then use their night sticks to repeatedly beat King with so-called 'power strokes'.

King received 56 blows from the batons and six kicks before being handcuffed and having his legs restrained. He was dragged to the side of the road to wait for an ambulance.

King was taken to Pacifica Hospital having suffered '11 skull fractures, permanent brain damage, broken (bones and teeth), kidney damage, emotional and physical trauma', according to the lawsuit he later filed.

Mr Holliday took the tape he made to the LAPD who ignored him. His next stop was KTLA television which broadcast the secret footage and led to accusations that the police were racist and excessively violent.

Its broadcast led to outrage, and charges against the police officers.

The following year the officers were acquitted by a predominantly white jury. Anger over the decision sparked the LA riots that left 55 people dead and more than 2,000 injured.

During a news conference at the time of the riots, King poignantly pleaded, 'Can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids?'

In the years since, King has been arrested numerous times, mainly for alcohol-related crimes, and has made several attempts at rehabilitation, including an appearance on television's Celebrity Rehab.

He received a $3.8 million settlement from the city, but recently said much of that money was lost to bad investments.

This past spring King was on a book tour promoting his memoir, The Riot Within: My Journey From Rebellion to Redemption.

VIDEO: Police indicate what avenues they are investigating in regards to Rodney King's death

VIDEO: King's beating by LA police sparked one of the worst race riots
in US history